Energy Leadership Index - The Assessment

-by Matt Leedham

We have written about different energy levels and Energy Leadership a lot in the last few months. But a lot of you still have questions about what Energy Leadership is and what the Energy Leadership Index is and how it can benefit you.

What is Energy Leadership?
Whether we accept it or not, we are all leaders. Some of us are leaders of billion dollar companies. Some of us are leaders of small, entrepreneurial businesses. Some of us are leaders in a department or team at work. Some of us are leaders in the community, or at home, or in your faith. And even if you don’t consider yourself a leader in any of those categories, you are most certainly a leader in the most important category of all: yourself.

You are definitely the leader of you…and you have a lot of important decisions to make. In fact, that is an important distinction to make. For the purposes of this discussion on leadership (or really any discussion on leadership), leadership = decision making. How you make decisions and choices essentially defines you as a leader.

Energy Leadership refers to your ability to lead with your energy. That is, harnessing your energy at different stages to make decisions that benefit you and those around you.

What are the 7 Levels of Energy?
The Energy Leadership Index is based on 7 Levels of Energy. Bruce Schneider, founder of the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching designed this model to describe how different energy can show up in our lives. Essentially, the 7 Levels focus on the Core Thought/Emotion/Action model. Let’s review the 7 Levels here. Below them is also the Energetic Self-Perception Chart.

To break the levels down into easy to understand language, let’s think of them in terms of winning and losing.

Level 1: I lose. Level 1 is victim energy -- think of Eeyore's "woe is me" attitude.

Level 2: You lose. This level is all about blame and anger. If something is wrong in my life, it's your fault.

Level 3: I win. This is the first level with more anabolic (constructive) than catabolic (destructive) energy. You take responsibility for your actions and you make stuff happen.

Level 4: You win. This is the quintessential "mom" level -- you want the best for others, so you will do whatever it takes to help them achieve.

Level 5: We both win. This level is all about opportunity -- no matter what the situation, you can find the opportunity in it and work to find the win-win for everyone.

Level 6: We always win. This level is all about the experience. It doesn't matter if it is "good" or "bad," the experience is worth the ride.

Level 7: Winning and losing are illusions. This is the highest level of consciousness, when you are connected directly to your higher power and are experiencing absolute joy.

What is the Energy Leadership Index?
The Energy Leadership Index (ELI) is an assessment that highlights how you perceive people, situations, and the world around you. The assessment measures 3 things:

1. Your current leadership potential (your ability to inspire yourself and others into action)
2. Your current level of engagement (how emotionally, mentally, spiritually, and physically engaged you are with what you’re doing and who you’re doing it with)
3. You current level of consciousness (your awareness of who you truly are vs. who you think you are or who/what you act like)

This assessment differs from other assessments in that it is an attitudinal assessment. Other assessments out there (e.g. Myers Briggs Type Indicator, D.I.S.C., etc.) are personality-based assessments. They are very useful at helping you identify your strengths and weaknesses so that you can best operate within those definitions to be effective. The ELI assessment is unique in that it is a snapshot of where you are today, how you view the world, and where you are spending most of your energy each day. The reason that this is so important is because you can change, or shift, your energy at any given time. Rather than being labeled or defined, this tool allows you to make informed choices about how to improve the way you perceive the world.

How is this Assessment Applicable to Me?
The ELI assessment is useful in a variety of scenarios, ranging from business to education to personal to non-profit to faith-based organizations.

Business: The ELI is useful to business leaders that want to shift their own awareness to have greater impact in the organization. The ELI is also useful with employees, particularly if you are trying to define or change the company/department culture.

Education: The ELI can assist education leaders and administrators that are looking to gain insight into how they can best use their energy in a challenging environment. The ELI can also be used with teachers that wan to bring higher levels of energy into the classroom, thereby having a significant impact on children.

Personal: The ELI can help you first understand with more clarity how you see the world around you and how you can use your energy to achieve more and be fulfilled.

Non-Profit: The ELI is extremely useful in shifting decision making for non-profit leaders that have limited resources.

Faith-Based: The ELI and the 7 Levels of Energy are very aligned with many of the teachings of traditional religions and can be used in conjunction with other spiritual constructs.

What are the next steps?
If you have questions about the Energy Leadership Index assessment, or think it might be useful for you or your organization, please contact Matt or Jaime for more information. We would love to discuss your needs and how this assessment might be the critical piece you need to make the shift you or your organization needs.

Military Leadership

-by Matt Leedham

I had incredible opportunity to go to the Pentagon yesterday, get a nice tour of the facility, and a behind-the-scenes briefing from two of America’s finest soldiers.

Toward the end of the tour, we deviated from the normal path of visitors and headed down the Hall of the Chiefs of Staff of the Army. It was noticeably different than any other hallway of the Pentagon. This one was lined with mahogany walls and large, ornately framed portraits of all 35 Chiefs of Staff of the US Army (36 and 37 are on their way). The pace slowed significantly as we looked at images of Dwight D Eisenhower, George C Marshall, and Douglas MacArthur.

We were then led into a briefing room that was oddly wide and short with 30 feet of television monitors in front of us. We all sat on one side and awaited out first presenter, Colonel Macintyre. The Colonel reports to a Lieutenant General (3-stars) and word on the street is that he will likely earn his first star and become a Brigadier General soon.

Colonel Macintyre talked about Army values. He stressed the importance of instilling values in soldiers from the first day they are welcomed by the “reception” command at boot camp. The Army values can be summed up using the acronym LeaDeRSHIP:

1. Loyalty
2. Duty
3. Respect
4. Selfless Service
5. Honor
6. Integrity
7. Personal Courage

Colonel Macintyre stressed that before joining the army, one’s life is primarily centered around themselves. With the Army values, and consistent training and reinforcement, soldiers quickly realize that they are part of something bigger than themselves.

What a great parallel to business core values. You see, to the Army, their values are not just on some plaque that hangs on the wall of a conference room that no one ever looks at. They are the cornerstone of every thought, decision, and action of our military. Lives, quite literally, hang in the balance.

I hope your business doesn’t have to make life or death decisions on a regular basis, but using values to make decisions and guide strategy is essential. With values, it’s no longer about the individual but about the group moving in unison toward a goal.

Our next presenter was Major General Anderson (2 stars). This guy is the epitome of a battle-hardened, tough-nosed warrior of the U.S. Army. His presence immediately captured our attention. The Major General’s role is to essentially know everything that is going on with the U.S. Army. He is the operations specialist that knows where every division, brigade, unit, and soldier is at any minute around the world. He can immediately tell you the operating status of equipment and personnel anywhere. He also coordinates domestic efforts and responses of the Army and the Coast Guard in times of natural disasters. The Major General has a very good pulse of what is happening anywhere in the world at any given moment.

He’ll be going on his third tour of duty soon in Iraq, where he’ll be given a large swath of land to oversee, including 20-30,000 troops. You could immediately tell that this man has had the command of thousands of troops in his day. His voice was scruffy and biting, reminding me of a junkyard dog. His wit and humor were equally sharp and coupled with his demeanor, made him a rather intimidating man to converse with.

My colleague asked a question about how he coordinates with other agencies regarding communications and intelligence. After he answered, she followed up with, “And then what do you do with all of that information?”

He crossed his arms, leaned in a little, and said, “What do we do with it? We kill people!”

There was silence in the room. All of us afraid he was about to carry out that exact action right then and there.

Then he cracked a barely noticeably smirk. That was enough to lighten the room and we all started laughing.

“Of course we don’t just kill people,” he said. “We make strategic decisions about where to send resources.”

Phew! That was close…

What was noticeable about the Major General was his outstanding confidence in himself and his team. He has innumerable moving parts to keep up with and relies on superb information and sound advice. Speaking with some soldiers later who don’t even report to Major General Anderson, he was described as a phenomenal leader. They told me how adept he was at analyzing complex scenarios and taking decisive action that accounted for 2^nd, 3^rd, and 4^th levels of responses. Essentially, he was always a few moves ahead of any situation. His people trusted him, and he trusted himself. To tie this back to the Energy Leadership, what was being described to me sounded very much like Level 6 – the ability to synthesize information and experiences and see them in totality rather than independently.

Again, what a great parallel to business leadership. Are you able to analyze complex environments and take decisive action that accounts for all possible outcomes? Imagine how employees and colleagues would respond to that level of leadership. What actions can you take to build the confidence in yourself to lead this way?

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In closing, an expression of gratitude: I am quite fortunate and blessed to be served and protected by such capable and value-driven individuals. They are truly American heroes, and represent thousands of others around the world that are equally driven to protect our freedom. I am grateful for their service to our nation, and the sacrifice many of them endure so that I may live a life of prosperity and choice.

Entrepreneurial Leadership

-by Matt Leedham

In my experience coaching entrepreneurs, I find that leadership styles vary widely. However, most leadership styles seem to start out the same. At first, most entrepreneurs are hard-charging workaholics that demonstrate hard work by example. They go and go and go, and push their employees to do the same. At first, this is an effective way to lead a startup or small business – foot on the gas pedal with no end in sight.

Over time though, this model for leadership begins to break down and take its toll on both the business owner and the employees. All of a sudden, life is out of balance, the business depends on the owner to succeed, and unhappiness ensues. Without exception, the first two things that suffer as the business grows are personal relationships and health. This is usually when entrepreneurs begin to seek help and may start to ask me more about what coaching can do.

Here is an excerpt from the Entrepreneurs’ Organization’s (EO) award-winning magazine, Octane. This is from an article called The Push/Pull Theory of Leadership, written by a true entrepreneur out of Cincinnati, Jamie Gerdsen. Jamie owns Apollo, a successful heating and cooling company, and I’ve gotten to know him quite well over the last year.

When I launched my business, my focus was on simply growing the company. The success of my business was defined solely on my ability to push the company and my employees for results. I believed that leaders always outworked those around them, but when growth occurred and my sphere of influence diminished, the pushing was no longer effective. My company’s success was limited due to my ineffective leadership style. Worst of all, I became everything I never wanted to be: a self-absorbed, busy beta thinker that was unwilling to trust those around him to pull his family, company and self to the next level.

In pursuit of a new leadership style—one that enabled me to split time between my work and home—I revisited notes from EO learning events, Forum, Universities and miscellaneous journals. I reached out to the best leaders I could find. I hired an executive coach. I even attended the EO Leadership Academy. Throughout it all, I began to realize that the strongest leaders were not pushers; rather, they empowered their employees by allowing them to pull leaders along. It occurred to me that I was pushing my team to the point where they could not, or did not want, to keep up with my pace. As a result, I was compensating for their efforts, leaving me remiss of a home life.

With this knowledge in hand, I came up with what I call the “push/pull theory” of leadership. This theory can be seen in competitive rowing. I spent 12 years rowing, and found that the fastest boats were manned by crews that pulled together. When I was thinking through my leadership challenges, I realized that I wasn’t allowing my employees to pull the “company boat.” To improve, I began to really listen to what was happening. I discovered that training for leadership was low or non-existent. The first directive of my theory was to allow the leaders in the organization to lead. The second was to allow my team to make mistakes and learn from them through daily, weekly and monthly huddles. Finally, I had to stay patient, which is still pretty challenging. By spending more time listening and less time telling people what to do, I was able to revamp my entire business.

Not surprisingly, Jamie goes on to tell us that his company grew by 30% and he’s spending much more time at home building significant relationships with his wife and children. Going back to the Energy Leadership Model, Jamie shifted from Level 2/3 to Level 5 and is reaping the benefits.

Level 2 leadership is based in conflict. It’s not uncommon for leaders to push hard to get results because up until then, that’s all that worked. Level 3 leadership takes responsibility for the situation and builds in coping mechanisms to make things work. This is the level of “good enough.” But as you can see, it really wasn’t “good enough” for Jamie and his family. That’s when the transition to Level 5 occurred. He began to realize there was another way. As entrepreneur, he knew there was a solution here – a way for everyone to win.

In the article, Jaime calls it a “leadership paradox.” It’s true – it can be counterintuitive. What he discovered was that the more he could let go, the more the company would grow. He allowed his team to grow by giving his leaders the opportunity to lead. Leading gave his leaders and opportunity to grow both personally and professionally. And all of this gave Jamie the opportunity to grow his personal relationships. Talk about a win/win/win!

How are you leading? At work? At home? Look for the opportunity to let others grow. You will grow in their growth, and everyone will win.

A New Day is Dawning (Velocity, v2.0)

-by Matt Leedham

Hello Achievers!

This is not one of our typical blog posts, but rather an update about Velocity. We have some exciting news to share about our focus and the changes that will be coming as we move forward. Those changes affect this blog as well and we wanted to keep you all informed.

• Over the last 10 months, Velocity has done some fun things. Let’s take a look at just a few:
• Published over 200 blog posts (wow!)
• Interviewed 33 achievers in our Friday special, “TGIF: This Goal Is Finished” (applause to all of you!)
• Have had over 15,000 visits to our blog/website (thank you!)
• Have spoken over 10 times to groups of students, teachers, entrepreneurs, and generally awesome people about goal setting and achieving more
• Have individually coached entrepreneurs, principals, teachers, consultants, and lawyers

We have had a great time changing lives and making an impact on our community by helping others realize their true potential for achievement. Through all of this experience, Velocity has become more narrowly focused on our target demographic (our niche) and how we serve them (our specialty). We will now be focused on Leadership Development and Coaching with two groups of people:

1. Professional Educators (i.e. Teachers, Principals, and other Education Administrators)
2. Entrepreneurs

Jaime and Matt each bring specific skill sets that will serve these two groups in ways that simply improve our community. We believe in the lofty vision that we’ll all benefit from more effective teacher/leaders helping students learn more, and more effective entrepreneurs/leaders managing people and taking care of customers. You can read our thoughts in more detail on each of these categories below.

How will this affect our blog?

Our blog format will be changing going forward to better represent our focus. Each week, Jaime will publish one education-specific post and Matt will publish one entrepreneur-specific post. Don’t worry though, the “Matt & Jaime Show” will continue with at least two general achievement posts each week. The TGIF series will be disappear as a regularly scheduled program, but please do share your successes with us as we would love to share your stories and help you celebrate your wins!

Some Thoughts on Education…

Educators, Education administrators, Parents, Community Members, News Media, Politicians, and Pundits all agree that the American system of Education is failing our students. Reform has been the battle cry for years -- most recently with the enactment of No Child Left Behind and the advent of testing and "data-driven" results as the go-to evaluative method for academic success.

Every curriculum specialist, education program, educational professional and consultant is looking for or hawking the 'magic pill' to save our schools. At Velocity, we believe that there is no magic pill. If there were one thing we could do across the board to dramatically change the face of education for the better, it would be changing people's minds.

We know that engagement, leadership ability, energy, and attitude are critical to any successful endeavor, and certainly critical to the success of school administration, faculty, and ultimately the students we want to succeed. What if you felt engaged every single day you walked into work? What if your work and personal lives were balanced in a way that consistently gave you joy? What if you were surrounded by people as energized as you were about your work and found opportunities in every challenge?

Our goal is to massively transform K-12 education at its building block, starting with educators. We are focused specifically on faculty and administrators working in urban Title I schools in improvement status -- the schools that most desperately need a huge shot of passion and engagement.

Using the research-based attitudinal assessment created by renowned coach and psychologist, Bruce D. Schneider, the Energy Leadership Index Assessment (ELI), we are able to get a "moment in time" snapshot of how you feel at work and at home. Unlike Myers-Briggs or DISC assessments that tell you how to best operate within a certain label of strengths and weaknesses, the ELI measures your energy and engagement level at the current time.

We use this assessment as a roadmap for personalized coaching to help educators effect positive change in their careers. What is so amazing about Energy Leadership is that it will not only reinvigorate a career, but it will have a ripple effect on an entire life -- improving personal relationships, creating a sense of peace, and help build sustainable happiness.

One teacher who recently went through just two hours of training with us said, "I knew you guys were going to be good, but you really blew me away. Thanks for relighting my fire."

Jaime has been teaching and training for over twelve years. She has worked with schools, community groups, and non-profits around the world, including DC Public and Public Charter Schools, Howard University, Western Michigan University, Nanjing University in China, Passports to College of Bermuda, Baçeşehir University of Istanbul, Turkey, the National Institute of Health, Prince Georges County Public Schools, Montgomery County Public Schools, Andrus Family Fund, Annie E. Casey Foundation, and the I Have a Dream Foundation, among others. She is an energetic and entertaining speaker and trainer who enjoys helping students and professional reach their personal and professional best.

Some Thoughts on Entrepreneurship…

Small businesses drive our economy. Did you know that small businesses represent over 99% of all employers in the U.S.? Or that they have generated 65% of new jobs over the last two decades? In 2009 alone, over 500,000 new businesses were created. Think about all of the people that were employed by those businesses!

Supporting entrepreneurs is a critical piece to establishing a more abundant economy and more prosperous communities. In other words, by creating programs and services that help entrepreneurs lead more successful business, which will provide salaries and benefits for their employees, we can build better, more stable communities.

The challenge for many entrepreneurs is balanced growth and focus. The maverick attitude that got an entrepreneur to spark a new business concept can waiver under the pressure of achievement as more people become involved in the business. Employees, clients, vendors, and investors all have needs and demands to be met. All of a sudden, the fun and exciting ride with the pedal to the metal, becomes a more like a roller coaster ride with ups and downs and that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach.

At Velocity, we believe the most effective way to grow as an entrepreneur is to focus on a 3-step process:

• Awareness – focus on who you are, why you do what you do, and where you want to go from here.
• Balance – focus on the whole picture, including your personal relationships, health, and enjoyment.
• Conquer – with a foundation of awareness and balance, become laser-focused on conquering your vision

Using the research-based attitudinal assessment created by renowned coach and psychologist, Bruce D. Schneider, the Energy Leadership Index Assessment (ELI), we are able to get a "moment in time" snapshot of how an entrepreneur feels at work and at home. Unlike Myers-Briggs or DISC assessments that tell you how to best operate within a certain label of strengths and weaknesses, the ELI measures your energy and engagement level at the current time.

We use this assessment as a roadmap for personalized coaching to help entrepreneurs effect positive change in their careers. What is so amazing about Energy Leadership is that it will not only reinvigorate a career, but it will have a ripple effect on an entire life -- improving personal relationships, creating a sense of peace, and help build sustainable happiness.

After a few weeks of coaching, one entrepreneur said, “Matt is insightful, a creative thinker and solution oriented. His expertise in business and entrepreneurship is invaluable. He has his finger on the pulse of current business trends and technology which I found abundantly helpful.”

Matt has spent the last 7 years working with entrepreneurs in business development, strategic planning, coaching, and consulting. He has spent the last 4 years working with over 1,000 entrepreneurs across the U.S. in building measurable action plans tied to strategic visions. With Velocity being his second entrepreneurial venture, Matt uses his experience, knowledge, resources, and networks to help other entrepreneurs realize their potential and reach their vision. He is passionate about helping entrepreneurs reach the next level in their business without sacrificing their health, relationships, or happiness along the way.